Tag Archives: Halloween

Halloween Was a {pinata} Smashing Success.

Wow, was Halloween just last week?? This fall is flying by friends! So many of you have asked me what Wolfie decided to go as for Halloween and as you can see, he did it again. Wolfie (Mr. “I Hate Costumes”) stunned us all last year when he decided he wanted to be a meatball. A MEATBALL! He was spectacular, if I do say so myself (see it all here). This year my quirky cool boy decided he wanted to be a piñata. And I was thrilled! You have to understand friends, this is the child who practically refused to dress up for the first 6 years of his little life. Wolfie was never a pirate/superhero/cowboy hat wearing little guy. I was always so envious of people with “dress up boxes”. But my little opinionated fella was not into it. This “coming up with costumes” thing is all new for us, and Greg and I are enjoying it SO much.

We decided to go with the classic donkey shape. It all began with a cardboard box, cut out on the top and bottom. Pretty simple, right? Welllll, sort of. It got really tricky when it came to the head. Unlike a real pinata (which is hollow but still has a structure) this was pretty much an unstable pain in the donkey. I wish I had photographed the entire process, all fancy-like….numbered “steps” and what not. But the reality was I had to work on after hours and it was too dark….so this is all I got for ya!

Wolfie is a self-avowed sweets/chocolate hater—so Halloween is never really about the candy for him. (He’s a salty fan—popcorn, tortilla chips, pretzels!) Anyway, his “concept” was that because he doesn’t like candy, it’s be funny to be a pinata and throw candy at the kids. We did have a brief moment of “What if people try and hit me for candy??” And yes. Some kids eagerly rushed over grinning mischievously. But Wolfie told them he was a backwards pinata—if you hit him, you don’t get any candy. If you tell him something nice, he’ll give you a treat. (He had a secret pocket inside with ziplock baggie of candies!) Needless to say he got lots of nice words from kids clamoring for candy, and was a big hit at the school parade!

He really looked so cute. Honestly 75% of the kids were dressed in dark or black costumes: ninjas, witches, ghouls, draculas….my little pinata was a colorful beacon of silliness. I couldn’t have been prouder! And the kids at his school were awesome. He’s at that age when all the boys just want to be cool and dress like cartoons they love, and Wolfie really stuck out like a sore thumb. I was so happy that all the kids were SUPER into his costume too. YAY kids! There were some other really excellent costumes—a great Harry Potter (with Hedwig the owl), my friend Teri’s little girl was an amazing Mexican wrestler, Wolfie’s friend was Poseidon, and there was a genius Cloud with Lightning.

Wolfie’s teacher was an adorable Red Riding Hood:

On Halloween night we added a sombrero, which kind took the whole thing up a notch! I’m half German (my mama) but also half Mexican (my dad is from Mexico) so grandmama and grandpa got a huge kick out of this! Wolfie was quite pleased that lots of the houses he trick-or-treated at said he was their favorite costume (and some places even gave him extra candy!). Our friends in Alameda invited us over to their neighborhood and whew mama, those guys TURN. IT. OUT. There were 100s of people swarming the streets….crazy decorations. It was amazing but also kind of overwhelming!

At the end of the night, he and his buddies sat on the floor counting out their stash. He decided to give each of his friends four pieces of chocolate apiece (yeah, if you want more candy trick-or-treat with Wolfie!). Even though he doesn’t eat it, he still likes to look over his loot and count it etc. And just so you don’t think he’s a complete crazy boy with his non-sweets loving ways, he IS a big a fan of cherry or strawberry lollipops/ring pops!

How was your Halloween? Is your neighborhood mellow or crazy with candy lovers? What did you end up going as? Am I going to get some new fabulous contenders for the Costume Parade next year??? SO many questions!

4th Annual Modern Kiddo We Love Homemade Costumes Parade!


image: cammi heath: small magazine

Step right up folks, it’s that time again! I am thrilled to present our Fourth Annual Modern Kiddo Costume Parade! We said wanted to see yer best homemade costumes—the good, the bad, the semi disastrous. And you delivered! Of course I should have known that Modern Kiddo readers are crazy clever and ya’ll turned it out with some spectacular costumes (I mean, I can’t lie. I was secretly hoping to see some goofy fun disasters but there isn’t a clunker in the bunch!). Take a look at some of these fantastic creations. Seriously guys….you are so talented!

Let’s start with a bang, my friends. Beautiful Bela is one of the most creative kiddos I know—as is her mama Karen (of Misha Lulu fame). Check out this phenomenal Alice in Wonderland costume….complete with Rabbit’s house. Curiouser and curiouser!

This is her as a pouty Frida Kahlo. I love it!

One of our favorite movies is Kiki’s Delivery Service. Melissa (bucktoothmama) made this outstanding Kiki costume for her sweet Sadie. LOVE!

Awesome Kiddo friend Greta (of the famous Little Rainbow costume!) never disappoints. Sweet Olive went as an ice cream cone last year and it’s adorable!

I really should save this one for the end, but OMG, would you get a load of Sarah Ivy’s amazing son Finn as Baby Bowie???? This kid, I tell ya.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the adorable Super Wren! Her mom Mari (Small for Big) crafted up this crazy cute super hero ensemble and I love it!

Well, HELLO DOLLY! This might be the cutest thing I have ever seen! Mama Stacey (hartandsew) turned her sweet Little Miss into a wind up dolly.


It’s brilliant, no??  Stacey gave us a little peek into her genius simplicity: “The dress is a vintage dress from my shop. The Wind-up Key was made out of a toilet paper roll, styrofoam ball, and cardboard cutout, spray-painted gold. Elastic bands around her arms are attached to the toilet paper roll by brass paper fasteners!” The following year she and her sister went as a butterfly and caterpillar. I love this too!

How about this adorable (a-thorable??) Thor! Amazing mom Cheri (i am momma hear me roar) made this rad out fit for her little guy! Check out how she made it here.

The darling Isabella was a phenomenal She-Ra! This is SO GOOD, friends!

Her siblings were not to be outdone, check out Vincent as the spunky robot (genius use of CDs on that robot!) and sweet little Donovan as a (sleepy) penguin!

OK. This is amazing. Carrie Anne (thelittlebigblog) turned her sweet cutie into Baby Sushi. BABY SUSHI!!!! Cuddly and cute.

While we’re on adorable baby’s, how about sweet Matilda May as this little Bebe Unicorn? The wings are so sweet!

Little Miles dressed up as Russell from the Pixar movie “UP”??? Just kills me. Look at that widdle face!

Melissa of (whileitrains) sent me these next two beauties. I’ve seen quite a few little Snow Whites in my time, but honestly little Stella is just 10x cuter than most!

I also have a supreme fondess for Dorothy’s……and little Miss Rowan is so sweet!


I’m not sure what’s more incredible, the fact that this woman birthed quadruplets or that she crafted up these GORGEOUS Where the Wild Things Are outfits for them!!!! (yes, that deserves four exclamation points!) You can see more of her beautiful boys here.

My friend Jess’ boy (mylittlemustach) little Judah as an Ewok is just crazy cute….part teddy bear and part hip Star Wars awesomeness!

I love simple and sweet costumes and this one is awesome! Little Eames as Elmer Fudd! Whaddup putty tatt??

Katrina (CaliKatrina) stole my heart with the simplicity of her little Ewan in this little ghost. It’s SO Charlie Brown, I just love it!

(Also can we discuss how cute her outfit it??? I want that SKIRT!)

My friend Dawn loves Halloween….her little cutie Memphis went as a classic Box Robot— I love a good box costume!!

Our friend Gabrielle sent us her two cutes boys, Arlo and Billy! Billy was one of our very first Weekly Kiddos and I just love seeing updates on him! His “retro” ghoul is fab! And Arlo’s knight is terrific!

**BIGGER KIDDOS**

OK. As kiddos get older, they either tire of dressing up or they KICK IT UP A NOTCH! My talented friend Inessa (diaperstylememoirs) is of the KICK IT UP A NOTCH school! Check out her handsome boy (you’ll have to trust me on this one) as Beetlejuice!! Inessa really makes the BEST costumes!

My friend James (bleubird) sent me these hilariously awesome shots of her two older kiddos. Julian is too funny as Ron Burgundy (from Will Farrell’s Anchorman!). LOVE IT!

And the usually sweet Milla is brilliant as a super scary Girl Scout Zombie! So great!

Our friend Krista’s little girl Izzy went as an amazing SPOOKTACULAR bride! It reminds me of the bride at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. Love it!

My friend Ward is super talented…check out this Sand Person (ahem….or Tuscan Raider) he made for his rockin’ boy Ezra. WOW!

Reader Angel and her husband made this AMAZING Lego costume for her younger brother last year. How did they do that headpiece??

** GROUPS! **

OK, Mollie Greene’s family had me in stitches! Each costume is terrific (Bat Boy Jude, little Lola as Super Mario and The Nerd, starring Henry) but something about them all together is just killing me!

I always love when little girls opt for untraditional costumes. Katie’s sweet Paisley loves Peter Pan….but did she want to be Tinker Bell? Oh no friends. She wanted to be SMEDE, the pirate! LOVE!

Here’s the whole family in on the action! Mama Katie (katiecupcake) is the lovely Wendy!

Our rockin’ friend Tiffanie (corner blog) has the cutest family—check them out as a Side Show extravaganza! Bearded lady! World’s Strongest baby! Sideshow Barker! Aaaaaand a sweet Dorothy thrown in for good measure!
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Little Josiah is a Star Wars fanatic so when he went as Darth Vader, sweet mama Jocelyn (thenestingspot) decided all the kids would follow along.  Sister Audrey was Master Yoda (in fact, Yoda was one of her first words!).  Little William was only 2 weeks old so he doesn’t have a lot of say in it all but he sure made a cute R2-D2!!

AWESOME EXPRESSIONS!

I am loving this Little Miss Muffet. Mama Shelley hand stitched it herself for little Lindsay—complete with bloomers! Her reaction is great!

My sweet friend Katherine sent me this awesome photo of her and her sweet lil man Henry. I just love that wistful expression! He totally looks like a little Civil War soldier!

Sweet Holly sent us these two rascals…..PIPPI!!!!!! And a really enthusiastic (and adorable) Anakin!

Etienne’s boy Oliver rules….here he is as a VERY dramatic vampire (with sweet Marlowe as the turtle!).

…and the year before, as a SUPER cool Tarantula. SO clever!

Speaking of clever….look how amazing Tara’s little fella Jake is as Jonah in the Belly of the Whale!! His expression kills me….haha!

This is another keeper. Tori’s son Augie as Eddie Van Halen!!  Toria told us everything, including the wig, was thrifted and then modified. The guitar was a purple Hannah Montana one before she painted it! It was such fun…

And finally….we come full circle. Remember little baby Bowie? Well sweet Finn is going as Dr. Who this year!

WHEW! So there you have it.  I’m exausted. AMAZING stuff my friends! Oh, if you submitted a costume and don’t see it here, please let me know! It probably just got lost in the shuffle and I’m happy to add it to the parade! EVERYONE is invited!!

Can’t get enough of homemade costumes? Check out last year’s Homemade Costume Parade for even more inspiration!

Real Life :: San Francisco Halloween 2010!

Hey everyone! So was Halloween as spooktacular as you had hoped?? I hope you got a look at Dottie’s super adorable little Peach….she was insanely cute in her little gnome outfit! Our halloween was super fun….we had some last minute costume switcheroos and the threat of a little rain but it was still loads of fun! Even with huge rain clouds looming, the City by the Bay managed to look lovely….in a nice ghoulish way!


We began the day at the Bay Area Discovery Museum where Greg’s band, The Time Outs performed their annual Monster Stomp gig. Despite the rain, the place was packed with lots of little kiddos, all in costume hoppin’ and boppin’. It’s crazy cute. One little dude got so into it, he took his shirt off and was jumping up and down—after madly searching for a stage to dive off of.


Wolfie and one of his best buds Cole totally have the jaded rock star attitude down. “Yeah….I saw the Wiggles back in 06. When they still had the original Yellow Shirt Greg. Wicked.”


After the show, the rain stopped so we let the boys hit the play area. If you are ever in San Francisco, you must head across the Golden Gate bride to the Bay Area Discovery Museum….especially on a pretty day. They have tons of outdoor play spaces (like a full size boat for kids to climb around on) and they always have cool hands-on exhibits.

Here are the boys doing their best “Angry Bird” impersonations in the little nests that are sprinkled throughout the grounds:


Sooooooo we had a bit of a mishap that day. The ride to Marin is twisty and turny and poor Cole got pretty car sick, and well…..he kinda thew up all over the back seat. Argh. He really is the sweetest kid around, but it was a little bit of a mess. We ended up putting him in Wolfie’s Ben 10 halloween costume so he didn’t have to wear his vommy pants. Cole is a lot taller than Wolfie (and let’s face it, the dang costume was SUPER cheaply made) so it started to pull and rip at the seams. It was a blessing in disguise because frankly I wasn’t a big fan of the thing to begin with, but now we needed to come up with a new idea—STAT! Wolfie wanted to be Harry Potter, but that’s kind of a tricky one to pull together in 4 hours. We toyed with an Evel Knievel theme…..but the wobbly helmet was a little heavy and got veto-ed by me.

A quick trip to Target (to scoop up Febreeze for the car, ahem….) yielded this magical goodness. Listen, I’m not a huge fan of those pre-fab, built-in muscles costumes….they kind of creep me out., but I have to say this was kind of cute! More importantly, someone felt MIGHTY proud struttin’ around in it. And thus, Captain America was ready to throw his mighty shield this fine Halloween:

Oddly, we didn’t see any other Captain America’s all night, mostly Iron Man and Spiderman. Wolfie got lots of thumbs up and “Hey! It’s Captain America!” shout outs. And YES! He wore that little hood/mask thing THE ENTIRE NIGHT!

Please pause for a moment and marvel at my PIKACHU pumpkin!!! It ain’t easy people…

I, alas, was a costume fail. I usually love dressing up but I was sort of racing around like a mad woman. I was trying to do some dramatic eye makeup thing, and it ended up smudging all over my cheeks and in a fit of annoyance, I just made myself a lame zombie doll.

Now Greg, on the other hand, he did it up. I’m not sure if you are familiar with the show WIPE OUT (it’s totally ridiculous, but we love it….it’s like Super Mario but with real people, all racing through a crazy obstacle course!), but Greg went as the Big Red Ball from the show. He made this insane huge paper machine ball. He was paranoid that it would collapse when he cut the holes for his head….but he did it successfully. Whoo hoo! It was so great….until we got to our friends house (where we trick-or-treat every year) and realized we forgot to cut ARM HOLES!!!

It still ruled. Although in the dark we got a lot of, “Hey! It’s a meatball! Awesome!!” A few people thought he was a giant tomato too. It’s really the costume that keeps on giving…

Our friend Tom went as the Disco Gorilla. Equally spectacular.

Oh yeah, so every year we go over to our friends Chris and Jim’s house. They live in this super cool area where all the homes are Eichlers….all very mid-century and super groovy. They are a super fun family and we love hanging out with them. You HAVE to see my favorite house. Look closely at the front door….see that happy family standing there?

Only….it’s not a happy family. IT’S A FREAKIN’ PAINTING OF THE FAMILY THAT WAS DONE IN THE 70s OF THE FAMILY STANDING IN FRONT OF THEIR DOOR, WELCOMING YOU TO THEIR HOME!!!!!! AMAZING!

You might need to look twice…this is a painting on their front door, made to look like the door is open. So brilliant. It freaks me out every time.

Their whole neighborhood really gets into the halloween spirit and I love all the decor and cool pumpkins. One of the houses was showing old black and white monster movies (like Frankenstein and Nosferatu) on the side of their wall. Super cool.

PS

Of course Wolfie couldn’t resist trying on the Big Ball at the end of the night…heehee.

Hey BOO! It’s time for Some Spooky Friday Links

1. The Most Adorable Pinata Treat Bags You’ve Ever Seen.


My genius friend Teri (creator of Giddy Giddy, the ORIGINAL felt hair clippies for tots!) always has something amazing up her sleeve. I’m so loving her sweet Pinata Treat Bags. Cute as can be, eh??

2. Genius Halloween-Themed Bento Boxes.


Dottie sent me this link to The Kitchn and I am just dying over these brilliant Halloween-themed bento boxes for kiddo lunches.

3. The Cutest Little Sock Monkey Outfit EVER!


We at the Kiddo are big fans of Kathleen from Grossgraine. Look at this crazy cute little Sock Monkey outfit she whipped together for her adorable daughter Eloise. Wowza.

4. We Love These Simple but Sweet Ghosts!

One of my favorite, no-sew, halloween crafts are little ghosts! Check out this cute post my friend Jenny did for Elsie’s A Beautiful Mess.

5. You’re Gonna Flip for These Modern Kiddo Cupcake Toppers from Draw! Pilgrim!

Oh our brilliant friend Pilgrim has done it again! Check out these adorable cupcake toppers she created. There are TEN different designs for you to print out! For Spooky Kiddos click here and for Silly Spookers (ghosts and candy corn etc) click here. You can also score some awesomely evil Treat Bag lables on Pilgrim’s site too. Get your hands on them from Draw! Pilgrim!

6. Lawdy, it’s MORE Amazing Vintage Halloween Costume Photos.

My friend Heather (mama of Cash, our Weekly Kiddo) sent me a link to these vintage Halloween pics. Seriously I can’t get enough of them. I was pleased to see that they featured one of the same photos I did in my post. Brilliant/kitschy minds think alike!

7. Best of Modern Kiddo’s Halloween Edition

I have to say, we had some awesome posts the last two weeks. Just in case you missed ’em (or perhaps want to relive the glory), here are the highlights!

+ Dottie’s Vintage Kiddo Spectacular! Retro Costumes from eBay and Etsy!

+ Alix’s Creepy Cool Vintage Halloween Photos from the 60 and 70s

+ Dottie’s Besty of Etsy Halloween Costumes (loooove the mummy)

+ Real Life :: Alix’s  Trip to the Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch

+ Our pal Jek taught us a groovy Googly Eye Cupcake Craft

+ Real Life :: The hilarious tale of Wolfie, the boy who hated dressing up

+ The groovy ghoulie Tweedlebop Retro Music MP3 mix

+ The Spectacular Modern Kiddo Reader Costume Parade!! OH, and here are three late breaking submissions:

Reader Jenny sent us her adorable two year old daughter Esme’s costume as “Supa-Woman”. Love this!

My friend Lynn crafted up this AMAZING “Angry Birds” costume for her cutie, Miles. The hottest game is now the hottest costume!!! SO GOOD, you go Miz Landry!!

And finally, reader Jenn sent us a more recent photo of her awesome son Max sportin’ this year’s fabulousness (he was a Where the Wild Things Are “Max” in our Costume Parade). Check this out: AMAZING!!!!

WHEW!!!!! What a Halloween it’s been….I hope you guys all have a safe, happy and FUN Halloween this weekend! We’ll be expecting a full update on Monday!

It’s the Modern Kiddo Costume Parade!

Step right up folks, it’s time for the Modern Kiddo Costume Parade! We said wanted to see yer best homemade costumes—the good, the bad, the semi disastrous. And you delivered! Of course I should have known that Modern Kiddo readers don’t play the Craft Fail game and ya’ll turned it out with some spectacular costumes. Take a look at some of these fantastic creations. Seriously you guys….

Our fave girl Shutterbean’s sweet boy Cooper rockin’ the octopus. Love this!

Cutie brothers Max and Beck got inspired by Where the Wild Things Are and dress up as Moishe and Max. Mama Jenn (The Blueberry Hill) whipped together these amazing costumes. I especially love the Moishe costume! So unique…I’ve never seen one before.

Here is Max all by his lonesome tonight, as a stylin’ Elvis….

I love a good box costume and I’m dying over this picture of Finley as a Mini Cooper:

Sweet little Beatrice Bird makes a darling little lady panda:

And the hills are alive with the sound of cutenesssssss…….Bea as a fetching little Heidi:

Aw, the awesome Baby Olive is sweet as can bee:

And Baby Olive as an adorrrrrrrrrrrrrable pirate! (OK….HOW DID YOU GET HER TO WEAR THE HAT???)

Wolfie’s best bud Miles does the funky robot….woot woot! We hear he’s going as an ANGRY BIRD this year. Love it!

Awww, look at sweet little Baby Pia as a quirky butterfly!

This retro photo of my sweet “blog nephew” Henry as a Pirate melts my heart (Jenny, I can’t believe he’s younger than Wolfie here!)

Oscar is as utterly adorable as Max but it’s his mom Suzy as the BOAT that is EVEN MORE AWESOME:

Everyone was swooning over hipster Billy as our Weekly Kiddo a few weeks ago, check out the rest of his cute family! Billy is a bat, his sis Harriet is one of the Andrew Sisters (!!!! CUTE) and baby Arlo is another sweet take on Max.

Sweet little Oscar and his folks are awesome as the Gnome Family! These smart “no sew” costumes were created  by his cool mama Kate (of Troolie). They all look so cute!

Sayer is another Modern Kiddo sweetie and here he is with his papa Chris as the dynamic Robot duo:

Sayer’s amazing mama Kristin(of klt :: works) hooked him up with this cute costume— Plankton from Sponge Bob. Genius.

Seriously flipping muh wig over Piper as a 50s Diner Twin!!! Those glasses are so fab!

It’s a bird, it’s a plane….it’s SUPER PARKER!!!!! So stinkin’ cute, eh?

Modern Kiddo reader tipped me to the amazing Sarah who made these Woody and Jessie from Toy Story costumes for her and her little boy Max—AMAZING!

People you are going to D-I-E. You loved Miss Sasha as Weekly Kiddo, Here she is with her brother as a wee widdle cow….

But NOW check out the fabulous costume the super creative Inessa came up with for her sweet little girl Sasha (Diaper Style Memoirs). Eddie Munster? Bananas!!!!!! So good.

But how about her papa as Grandpa?? Just as amazing.

And yes, she hand crafted a grown up wig just for the occasion. BRILLIANT!!

I’m exhausted just looking at all that fabulousness. I hope you are inspired to create your own masterpiece this year. And even if you don’t make one by hand, I don’t judge. As we all know my own little Boy Wonder is not a fan of costumes (let’s relive the magic of my pain in last weeks post “When Yer Kiddo Hates Costumes“).

OH! And apparently a lot of you were inspired by my Crazy Vintage Mask post from earlier in the week (over HERE ) because I got some awesome old skool family photos. Like this amazing one from reader Chris:

Awesome reader Marcie as the pink bunny and her friend as a suspicious “Yoda”:

And finally, Modern Kiddo fave, Lishy Loo,  sent in her own vintage kiddo photos. Check out the adorable lil Lishy…but then thrill to the site of her DAD as….um…..honestly I don’t know what the hell he’s supposed to be, but I’m sure diggin’ it!!!

AMAZING STUFF! Hey, if you sent in a photo and don’t see it please let me know! I’ll be happy to add you to the parade!

PS: This late breaking entry just in! One of our fave Kiddo readers RocketGirl just completed an insane hobbit costume for her little cutie Eliza. Nothing beats a toddler with a pipe, friends.